Thursday, October 28, 2010

Halloween Party 2010


Ahhhh.

That is how I feel right now. Halloween Party...DONE! It was nothing compared to years previous, but it was still enough work and stress that I am glad to have it all done. Don't get me wrong, I love throwing parties and I will forever be throwing Halloween parties, it's still a lot of work though. At least it is work I enjoy. I have been gone every evening this week, so my decorating was extremely limited. I put some things up for about 20 min after my shower this morning. I know, I am slacking in my old age. ;) Here is a picture of the kitchen.


I usually have ribbons, pumpkins, & bats hanging as well, but I couldn't find the ribbon. Half the bats were ruined, and I only had enough for the entryway and halls. For some reason I forgot to take picture of those areas. I also had leaves and lights and pumpkins on the stairways and throughout the entire house. It looked really great in the dark. I spent most of my time today cleaning, running, taking care of kids and making delicious goodies for the kids to enjoy. Like these.

Mummies. We served blood with those too. The kids were actually pretty convinced that I dug up a bunch of dead bodies last night to serve at our party. We also served eyeballs (olives & ranch) skeleton fingers (carrot sticks) Halloween shaped sandwiches (ghosts,, pumpkins, witches) Spiders (oreos with licorice rope legs) & of course your usual junk food, cheetos & root beer.

For dessert we ate worms. And most of the girls wouldn't touch them. They really thought I had gotten the "dirt" from the backyard garden. Probably because as we served each item we told them "what" it was. Dirt, blood, eyeballs etc. The Boys loved it.


Then of course we played games.

We did a mummy wrap, made masks, read scary stories, went on a Treasure hunt, watched a Halloween cartoon, and then played Hide & Seek until parents came.
I think the kids had fun.

And this is a random picture of Ben in his Halloween costume. Yes, he is Elmo. no I didn't make it, My neighbor, Audrey, made it. Amazing huh? Ben is wearing that thing to work tomorrow for the costume contest, I hope he wins.

And here I am. I told the kids I was a witch, and that I could cast a spell on them. then we read some stories and went on our treasure hunt. I think it was pretty good little party.

Other Halloween Activities


The Pumpkin Patch in Vineyard. We went there a few weeks ago, I never posted the pictures, so here they are. Sophie just loved that little black tunnel.


And here is James & Harrison with their cousins Henry (in the yellow grabbing James' leg) and Wesley (in the red and black jacket) We love those boys and were so excited to have them over. Sophie wasn't so crazy about sitting on a giant pumpkin and was screaming the entire time she was up there.


My three kids. James, Sophie, Harrison. Aren't they the sweetest little things you ever saw? Sure do love those kids.


Isn't this the most dang cutest picture you ever saw? Yes. It is.
Yeah, I'm in love.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Jack-O-Lanterns


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Tonight, for FHE, we carved our pumpkins. We bought them a couple weeks ago when we visited the pumpkin patch in Vineyard. Grandma Robertson always takes all the grandkids there, goes through the pumpkinland, and then they all pick out a pumpkin. They had a great time with their cousins, Henry & Wesley who were visiting from AZ. The boys just run through that corn maze as fast as they can. Their favorite part though, are the big bounce houses at the end, and of course the pumpkin slide. Sophie loved those too. After it all, they each picked out a pumpkin and brought them home to the porch. And tonight, we turned them into jack o lanterns.



I think they turned out great!
Can you guess which one I carved?


The boys picked out a picture to carve, and Ben carved it for them. They helped get the guck and seeds out, then Ben took over with the knives. The boys didn't mind though, we enjoyed watching some fun Halloween cartoons during the evening as well.

Here they are with their pumpkins.

And I got Sophie back out of bed for a quick picture. Harrison is obviously more interested in the cartoon.

We have been having a pretty fun Halloween season. Last Monday we went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point. We had never taken the kids there before and were excited to go. WE had a great time jumping on "huge pillows", playing on slides, getting treats, going through haunted houses, playing in corn, yes corn, freezing and finally coming home for some hot cocoa.

I have been spending my free time making Fall treats. I don't know WHY I do this to myself as I am currently trying to lose 10 lbs, but oh well. I always have a small portion, and give the rest away. My favorite treat I have made this year has to be the pumpkin whoopie pies found on my new favorite website www.ourbestbites.com go check it out, YUM! I have made those a few times now. Tomorrow I will be making some delicious sugar cookies with frosting and I am for sure getting up early to go workout, so that I can definitely eat one of those cookies. Yeah, I know I am retarded.

Tomorrow we are also taking the kids to a place in Lindon that has some free Halloween activities, spook allys, rides and such. I am really excited about that. I love all these fun Halloween activities and this week is packed! We have..... Lindon activities tomorrow night, Family kid party/dinner Thursday night, school parties & ward party Friday, Halloween half marathon, robertson halloween party & morrise halloween party on Saturday (not to mention Trick or Treating!) and then on Sunday I think we will play some fun games, make some "scary treats" and spend the day together. Wow, it is a busy week. I probably won't be posting again until after all that. Hope you have a Happy Halloween!!!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Arches & Goblin Valley Fall Trip


The past couple weeks have been..insane? yeah that's the word. I ran the marathon, it completely wiped me out for several days. I was completely exhausted. It was kind of a blur actually. Well, then this last week was so so so busy. Good things though, not bad. My brother and his wife came to visit with their 2 boys and we loved seeing them. We don't get to see them very often, as they have been living in Georgia the last 7 years. However, they just moved to AZ and so now we get to see them more. YAY! We had fun eating tons of good good food, working out together, we went to the pumpkin patch, made a big fall breakfast (complete with the yummiest pumpkin pancakes ever). And just hung out as much as possible. Our kids loved playing with their cousins and it was just a joy to see them again. Thanks James and Em for coming, we love you guys!

I also had an RS activity I was in charge of last tuesday, we had a service project and made the cutest things for Primary Children's Hospital. I will have to take a picture and post it. Seriously, so cute. After the activity I realized we were leaving for Arches for several days and I had better start packing!!! So like a mad woman I packed, cleaned and shopped and got us all ready to go.

I was pretty excited to go to Arches since I have never been there. (isn't that sad?) And I was not one bit disappointed. That place is absolutely amazing. I couldn't get over its beauty and majesty. Seriously, it was awesome. We hiked all over, our kids were really good sports about going on about 3 hikes a day and we just had a great time. The nights were freezing, and I felt really bad for little Sophie when she woke up just shivering. But we lived through it.

Okay Favorite things about our trip:

-running down the trail from the Delicate Arch with James. He kept up with me and it was awesome to just fly down that mountain with him. Loved it.

-seeing Sophie try to climb all the little "goblins" in goblin valley. She was so determined to get to the top she even got pretty stuck one time and cried out "STUCK STUCK STUCK". So cute.

-Showers at the campground. Thank heavens.

-Seeing the Double arch for the first time.

-getting milkshakes in Moab after a long hot day hiking, and drinking them in the tent while watching a movie together on the ipad.

-Playing in the Sand dune, running and jumping down it with the kids. We all loved that.

-Shishkabobs. Those were definitely a favorite.

-Seeing Ben and James climb all over everything at Goblins Valley.

-The fact that our kids were willing to go on hike after hike with us. They were really good sports and we all had a good time.

Here are the not so Favorite things:

-freezing cold nights. brrrr. I will forever get a hotel when we go to Moab/Arches

-Kids popping our air mattress. Sleeping on rocks really makes your joints hurt.

-Getting up over and over with kids at night. boooo.

-Sophie dumping a water bottle all over our sleeping bags and blankets.

James at Goblin Valley. He said, "this place is more fun than disneyland!" WHAT?

James and Harrison finding cool places to climb to.

Sophie, playing in the dirt. It is one of her favorite things.

Harrison climbing around at the Double Arch. I was really impressed with his climbing skills. He climbed just as much as James did.

James and ben hiked up to where Indiana Jones is filmed. James thought that was really cool.

Hiking Park Avenue. I loved that hike. It was a walk really, and so so beautiful.


Here we are at Arches! THis was our first stop when we got there, the Double Arch.

Delicate Arch. James and Harrison really wanted to go climb on the actual arch. yeah, no freaking way kiddos.

And me with the kids at Delicate. That was a fun hike, and the kids did great hiking it.

Goblin Valley. We thought this looked like a diving board so We told James to go up there and pretend to dive off. I have to say, that place is crazy cool.

Anyways, another camping trip done. We are planning our next one, can't decide where to go exactly. James wants to go to Yellowstone, I would like to go to Yosemite, and then there is still Bryce Canyon, Zion's..plenty to choose from. We'll see where we go next, but it will have to wait until next summer.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

St. George Marathon 2010


St. George Marathon 2010 Finish Time 3:49:10

All Right folks, so Yes I ran the 2010 St. George Marathon last Sat (Oct 2) with the goal to qualify for Boston. That means I need to finish the marathon under 3 hrs & 40 min. That's holding about an 8 min mile for 26.2 miles. Yeah. I have been training ALL summer, doing several 20 milers, speed intervals, biking, weight lifting, I felt a little like my life was dedicated to training this summer. So you can imagine my excitement for the race, and my disappointment when I did not reach my goal. My finish time was 3:49:10. Here is the story.

I have only so many mental barriers in a marathon. Meaning, there is only so much I can handle before all walls come down and I crash burn and die in the race. I didn't crash at my last marathon, it went really well. And with all the training I did for this race, I assumed it would go as well. I had heard so much about the marathon being downhill and a great race to get a PR that I just KNEW I would reach my goal of Boston.

Barriers started coming down well before the race started. 2 weeks before I was to run the race my shins decided to hate me, a lot. I didn't want to get new shoes to run a marathon in, but when it is a choice between some blisters and shin splints, I will take blisters. And yes, I got blisters. Who doesn't though in a marathon? The next thing was my hat, I always train in what I am going to wear on race day, that way I know exactly how and where it is going to rub me and I will be prepared for it. I trained in a hat this summer and loved it. Kept my face shaded and the sweat out of my eyes. Race morning...hat was gone. Couldn't find it anywhere. Never did. Oh well, I'll live without a hat. Move on.

Got to the start of the race. Looked amazing!!! Flags everywhere, so many people, you almost felt like an olympian, I loved it. I brought tons of warm clothes to keep warm for the 3 hrs before the race start, only, I didn't need them. It was warm. Uh Oh. Warm at 4 am in the mountains? Really? I had lots of fun chatting with everyone before the race, ran into one of my old HS teachers, hung out with my brother, Jeremy. Then it was time to start.

I got in line with the 3:40 pacer. THe marathon had pacers for us. They were part of the Clif Bar Pace team and were pro at it. Each of them had a set of balloons with the finish time they would be getting so we could easily follow them. I found the one with the 3:40 balloons and stuck to him like glue. Then the race started.

It was still dark outside when we started, so it REALLY surprised me when I started sweating at mile 1. Yeah, mile 1 out of 26.2. This was not a good sign of things to come. As I look around I saw others sweating as well and was glad it wasn't just me. Another barrier falling. The first part of the race was really easy, I was ahead of the pacer by just a min, my breathing was pretty easy, and everyone was just excited to be running. We were having a good time chatting, and running together. Unfortunately my shins were screaming, I knew though that they would stop once I had run a few miles, so just ignored it. I was right. Around mile 6, they shut up.

As we approached Vejo (mile 7) I saw the massive hill I was warned about. I knew there were a set of hills around mile 7 to mile 11, so I was prepared for it and was ready to kick its butt. Which I did. Ran up it very well, and recovered quickly. I was not prepared for the number hills we would be running for the next 13 miles. It felt like all we did was run up hill after hill. Obviously we went down too, I just didn't know it was all rolling hills. My breathing was getting extremely ragged, and my quads really hated me.

When I got to mile 13 it started a downhill stretch...thank you!!! I got just ahead of the pacer again and felt the best I had in the entire race. I was holing a great pace and thought that if this how the rest of the course was, I could easily pull a 3:35 out of this race. I was excited to see so many people cheering us on, and I felt like I was actually going to make it. But, the racing Gods weren't so kind.

The sun was beating down on me at that point. And then, my pacer dropped out of the race. WHAT??? What hope does that give me? Sheesh. Another runner took his place and his balloons and we continued on. The next several miles broke me, slowly. Again there were hills. As we would approach each unexpected hill I would think, "okay make it up this hill, give it one more shot, come on don't give up". As we would run up those hills our pacer would say, "this is the last hill, it's all downhill from here." So yeah I would push myself up that "last hill" only to find another hill waiting to break me. Now, I am sure that if I were to look back at those hills now I would laugh and think "you call this a hill?" But when you are running them, anything that even slightly slants up, is a hill, and it hurts. I felt like I was breathing through a straw, and my quads were screaming so loud at me.

But I wouldn't give up, I wasn't going to give in. We hit another hill at mile 19 and I asked our pacer if this was the last. "yep, then it is all downhill". Thank heavens, nope. wrong again. another @#$%*#@ hill. I was still holding a fabulous pace, right on target, but I couldn't slow down, or I wouldn't make it. I start up that hill determined to make it up, and then, it broke me. completely.

My legs went out from under me, started twitching, I started seeing stars and then nothing. I knew I was going down and caught myself. I don't really remember at all what happened. I do remember as I was hanging onto my sanity I saw a girl just in front of me completely collapse, and then a man passed out on the side. A cop came over to the girl and was helping her. I knew that was about to be me, that it was my turn next to be carried away. While all my body was screaming at me to just stay there and let them take me away, my mind was stronger and told me no, no, no. don't let them take you. This is not what you came here for. My heart was broken as I watched my balloon man (the pacer) pass me by and I knew that was Boston slipping through my fingers. I was broken. so broken.

How could I do this? How did I let this happen? I would be disappointing everyone that was cheering me on, that was waiting for my phone call to tell them I would be in Boston next spring. Ben, he would be waiting for me in the stands, wondering what happened. THe tears started and I wanted to give up. My head was spinning, my legs were spazzing out, I was about to puke my guts out, and why was I still breathing through a straw? There was no way I could go on. But I did. It was no longer about making it to Boston, but about finishing. About not giving up, no matter what. I got up, walked for a few seconds, and then running. Slowly, but I was running. All of that happened in about 3 min. It felt like forever.

I honestly do not remember the next 3 miles. I know I was listening to music. I don't remmber it. I don't remember my watch beeping at me each mile, I don't remember aid stations. I don't remember anything, just, don't give up. I DO remember mile 22.5 all I wanted to do was die. As every Marathoner knows, those last few miles are extremely brutal. And all anyone wants to do is go die on the side of the road. But you keep going. And I kept going. The great thing about St. George is that the last several miles you have tons of people cheering you on. I loved all the support from the community. It made all the difference those last few miles. Finally finally finally there was finish line. Everyone is cheering, and shouting, ringing bells, you feel like you'll never make it, but then, somehow you cross that finish line. My final time 3:49:10.


And then you die. Ha. I finished and even though I knew I should be drinking all the water I could get my hands on, I went to the Coca Cola trailer and got an ice cold Dr. Pepper. It was heaven on earth I tell you. So I had another.

After laying on the grass for an hour I tried to stand up, passed out again (Ben caught me this time) And then after another 10 min figured out how to walk again.

One of my friends, Emily Dougall, took this pic of me. Her sister was running and it was fun to see her there. I am actually waving at people as I am running through, I know I look a little ridiculous, but I honestly wasn't concerned with my looks at that point. Ben videoed me coming through and I will post that when I get it downloaded.



We stayed the weekend and had tons of fun visiting with other runners. I guess St. George hit record highs that day and EVERYONE missed their goal time by 15 or more minutes. When I finished the race the temps were in the low 90's. Lots and lots of people passed out, and ambulances were going non stop. Knowing all that, made me feel a whole lot better.

So, there you have it. Another marathon done. I was fine with my time the day of race and even the day after. But then, after the adrenaline had worn off, and the excitement gone. My heart broke for a day. I got my cry out, but then moved on. I did the best I could, and I now know what I need to work on for other races. I have already signed up for 4 races next year and cannot wait to start training again and get back in the game. I love Marathons, they are always an adventure. They push you beyond your limits and you always push back. Love it.

Here is the video of my finish.